Center for the Future of Museums
AAM’s Center for the Future of Museums (CFM) engages in research and forecasting to help museums explore the cultural, political, and economic challenges facing society and devise strategies to shape a better tomorrow.
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The Next Horizon of Museum Practice: Voluntary Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparations
New Report: Understanding the State of Voluntary Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparations Today
This report documents the trends and events that have created the current state of museum practice. Download your free copy and use the report’s worksheet to begin framing your thoughts on the evolution of museum practice.
This report is stage one of AAM’s Voluntary Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparations project, generously supported by the David Berg Foundation.
New Future of Museums Community on Museum Junction!
Join to swap ideas with fellow futures-minded museum colleagues, share news stories you’ve found that illuminate trends and events, and keep up with the latest news from the Center for the Future of Museums
AAM’s Museum Junction, our online hub of over 50,000 museum professionals, has a specific community for those working in museum finance to connect, share ideas, and swap advice with peers across the field.
These groups are a member benefit, open to all through 2023.
2023 Forecasting Report
TrendsWatch: Building the Post-pandemic World
This year, our annual forecasting report explores how museums can use the profound disruptions of the past three years as opportunities to create a better, more equitable, and more resilient future. The content includes:
- The Future Workplace: How can museums build the workforce they need, while creating better, more equitable labor practices?
- The Partisan Divide: How can museums build bridges and foster tolerance to strengthen democracy?
- A Digital (R)evolution: Has the pandemic sparked an evolutionary leap in practice?
- Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparations: Are museums in the midst of a transformative shift beyond legal compliance to values-based actions?
- Changing Climate Risk
- The Metaverse and Web 3.0
Click here to see all of the TrendsWatch Reports!
More from the Center for the Future of Museums
The Center for the Future of Museums, in collaboration with our community, works to:
- Monitor cultural, technological, political, and economic trends that matter to museums
- Equip museums to help their communities address future challenges
- Build strong connections among museums and educational, corporate, civic, nonprofit, and government organizations
Learn more about how you can sharpen your strategic foresight skills with the resources and opportunities below.
Dispatches from the Future of Museums
Dispatches from the Future of Museums is a free weekly newsletter with news stories illuminating trends that may impact the field. Fuel your museum’s strategic foresight by thinking about the implications of these “signals,” and the kinds of future they might create.
Bring the Future to Your Museum or Conference
The Center for the Future of Museums’ founder and director Elizabeth Merritt is available for a limited number of engagements each year. For more information about booking Elizabeth and other AAM staff, read about our current areas of focus for lectures and workshops.
Hone Your Strategic Foresight Skills
Enhanced with worksheets, slide presentations, and games, the AAM Strategic Foresight Toolkit can help you build your foresight skills. Organizations can use this toolkit to train staff in the essential tools of futurism and integrate foresight into planning and operations.
Become an AAM Member Today!
Instantly access hundreds of resources on the future of museums, plus thousands more on topics from education to strategic planning when you become an individual or museum member.
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